Patrick Butler
Serial Killer Cop Killer Rapist |signature = Two distinct signatures: *Breaking seven of a victim's fingers *Shoving socks into a victim's mouth |mo = Varied |victims = 5 killedIt is unknown if he is actually responsible for the three murders prominently featured in the episode, but considering he was the only identified perpetrator behind the killings, as well as the one responsible for killing Devon, he is being counted as such 5 victimless bank robberies 1 assaulted |status = Deceased |actor = Isaac Keys |appearance = "Lockdown" }} Patrick Butler was a convicted rapist, and bank robber-turned-serial killer and cop killer who appeared in the Season Ten episode "Lockdown". Background Butler was a bank robber who robbed five banks in three different states using a toy gun. He was arrested and initially sentenced to five years in Reagan Federal Penitentiary, but the sentence was bumped up to twenty years after he killed another inmate. He was one of many inmates forced by Captain Dale Shavers, the head of security, and several other prison guards to participate in a "fight club". Butler eventually befriended a new inmate named Devon White, also a participant, and was implied to have been in a homosexual relationship with him. One night, the two of them were pit against each other in a fight, during which Shavers handed him his baton. Butler used it to beat White, although the blows proved to be unintentionally fatal. In the aftermath of the incident, some of the guards disposed of White's body in a furnace, while Butler was left traumatized by the ordeal. Eventually, he, along with several other inmates (presumably ones who were also forced to participate in the "fight club"), began a series of killings, targeting people connected to White's death and Shavers and his gang. They were assisted by a prison guard, Tom Polinsky, who had stumbled upon the fight club activities by accident and was forced to stay silent about it, though was ambivalent towards Shavers' intentions. Lockdown After the group killed two prison guards and an inmate who was Shavers' informant, Butler's cell is searched by Shavers and two of his accomplices. They find shivs and socks in a hidden box, and Shavers orders Butler to be taken to solitary confinement (which is located at the same hallway where White died). There, he is confronted by Shavers, who demands to know who else is involved. Butler assaults him, but is quickly overpowered by him. When Shavers demands information, Butler mocks him and tells him the BAU (who are investigating the deaths) will find out about the fight club eventually. Shavers tries hitting him with his baton, but Butler assaults him again. He is overpowered a second time and then bludgeoned to death. Modus Operandi Butler and his accomplices targeted people connected to Shavers, his gang, and the fight club. Officers Rudy Hightower and Keith Rivers (both of whom were coincidentally married Caucasian men with children) were stabbed in the neck with shivs, while Randall Jefferson Jones had his arms and legs tied together with duct tape, was raped (as a reference to his previous crimes as a serial rapist) and then boiled alive in scalding water. Signatures for all three of the murders were that socks were stuffed down the victims' mouths prior to their deaths, and that seven of their fingers would be completely broken (as a reference to cell 34, a solitary confinement cell where White died). It is unknown as to how he exactly killed the first inmate. No specific details have been mentioned about his bank robberies, other than he used a toy gun. Profile The unsub is a male inmate aged in his 30s to 40s, who may be working with other inmates. He may be targeting prison guards because of the uniforms they wear and to him, it may not matter which guard he kills. Putting socks in the mouths of the victims could be a warning to be silent of something or to act as a gag to keep them quiet before killing them. It would be very difficult to kill the guards while inside the prison, which reinforces the theory that there is more than one unsub. Multiple unsubs committing the murders inside a prison suggest a gang could be responsible, specifically the leader, but this may not even be related to gang activity. The leading unsub would need to know what areas of the prison are covered by the surveillance cameras. The murder of Keith Rivers suggest the unsub waited for him to get into the hallway or lured him into it and would have needed help to lift his body up on the second shelf of the closet where he was found. The unsub's murders could be personal in nature and he may have had something against the guards he killed. The latest victim, Randall Jefferson Jones, was killed for giving information about the inmates to the guards, explaining the shift in victimology and the high level of violence in his death. Jones also being raped may have been some form of revenge for repeated sexual assaults against missing inmate Devon White. The unsub would have needed privileged status and lived in the same cell block in order to get to Randall. His latest murder was incredibly bold and may have been either a taunt or a message to the BAU. One of the guards is definitely involved in the murders, possibly not willingly, since the inmates would have needed access to disable the surveillance cameras and the lights in the hallway to the shower where Jones was killed in; they would have also needed a key to open and close the closet Keith Rivers was placed in. The unsub's signatures of the murders (stuffing a sock in the mouth and breaking seven fingers) may relate to a specific event relating to Devon being involved in the prison guards' sadistic fight clubs. Real-Life Comparison Butler is partially similar to Christopher Scarver - Both were African-American serial killers and robbers who, during their time of imprisonment, killed two inmates (at least one by bludgeoning), one of which was convicted of serial crimes. Known Victims *Unspecified dates and locations: Five victimless bank robberies *Liberty, Texas: **Post-2009: Unnamed inmate **December 2014: ***Devon White ***Officer Rudy Hightower **2015: ***March 2: Officer Keith Rivers ***March 3: Randall Jefferson Jones ***March 4: Captain Dale Shavers Notes *Butler, an inmate, is a serial killer who was completely active inside of a prison. This is a criminal scenario that is completely unseen and unique in real life. Appearances *Season Ten **"Lockdown" *Season Twelve **"Assistance Is Futile" References Category:Criminal Minds Characters Category:Criminals Category:Season Ten Criminals Category:Serial Killers Category:Bank Robbers Category:Rapists Category:Deceased Criminals Category:Murder Victims Category:Cop Killers Category:Revenge Killers Category:Remorseful Criminals